17.3.18

PM May rallies party with warning to Russia

A
video grab from footage broadcast by the UK Parliament’s Parliamentary
Recording Unit (PRU) shows Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May making a
statement on Britain’s response to a March 4 nerve attack on a former
Russian double agent, following a meeting of Britain’s National Security
Council, in the House of Commons in central London on March 14, 2018 /
AFP PHOTO / PRU / HO / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT ”
AFP PHOTO / PRU ” – NO USE FOR ENTERTAINMENT, SATIRICAL, MARKETING OR
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

British Prime Minister Theresa May took aim at Russia at a major
speech to her Conservative Party on Saturday, cutting a stronger figure
as internal Brexit divisions took a back seat.
Amid escalating tensions with Moscow over the poisoning of a former
double agent on British soil, May warned that she would “never tolerate a
threat to the life of British citizens and others on British soil from
the Russian government,” to strong applause from party members.
May’s last major party conference appearance ended in disaster as a
cough, a prankster and a collapsing backdrop undermined her speech —
intended to restore her authority following last year’s disastrous snap
general election in which the Conservatives lost their parliamentary
majority.

A pre-Christmas breakthrough with the European Union in Brexit
negotiations gave her a boost, but she was again under pressure after
pro-EU rebels within her centre-right party delivered her a stinging
parliamentary defeat.
However, she arrived at the Conservatives’ spring forum in London with renewed authority.
Her decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats and suspend high-level
contacts received cross-party and media support, but more importantly
rallied the Conservatives, heralding a ceasefire in the bitter internal
row over Brexit.
May began her speech, which took place shortly after Russia announced
tit-for-tat expulsions of British diplomats, by accusing Moscow of
being in “flagrant breach of international law and the Chemical Weapons
Convention.”

She also said that “Russian aggression is the very antithesis of the
liberal and democratic values that define the United Kingdom.”
But behind the bravado, members on both sides of the Brexit debate
are still scrutinising May’s every word for clues on her position, and
she largely avoided the issue on Saturday, exploiting the rare spirit of
unity to focus on her domestic agenda.

Poll boost
May, 61, insisted that the Conservative Party “cares deeply” about
public services, and spoke about the impact that the National Health
Service had had on treating her diabetes.
She also told the party, in office since 2010, that it “must mount a
determined effort” to “win and keep” the public’s trust in its
management of government services.
“Some people question our motives. They wonder whether we care enough
about our NHS (National Health Service) and schools,” she said.
“Whether we truly respect the people who work in them. And understand that people rely on them.
“I know what our answer would be. Everyone in this party cares deeply
about our public services. We use them. Many of us rely on them.”
A YouGov poll of 1,986 adults for The Times newspaper out Friday put
the Conservatives on 42 percent support and the Labour main opposition
on 39 percent.
Some 53 percent said May had responded well to the Salisbury attack, while 23 percent thought she had responded badly.
Sixty percent supported, and 14 percent opposed, the measures May has taken, such as expelling the Russian diplomats.
For Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, 18 percent thought he had responded well and 39 percent said he had responded badly.